


millions of stars

by červień (VioletSauce)



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy, Star Wars: Rebels
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Anti-Imperialism, Gen, Humor, One Shot Collection, POV Outsider
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-03
Updated: 2020-12-12
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:27:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27793810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VioletSauce/pseuds/%C4%8Dervie%C5%84
Summary: Just a collection of AUs and short stories about Star Wars that I wrote. Featuring different characters and different settings, from mostly canon compliant to completely AU.Chapter 1:The first thing every new recruit into the Alliance was told was this:if you are ever unfortunate enough to be on a mission with Luke Skywalker or Leia Organa, do not let either of them cook if you can afford it.Chapter 2: The rebels make patriotic anti-imperial music. It pisses Vader off.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 17





	1. at least it wasn't poisoned

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first thing every new recruit into the Alliance was told was this: _if you are ever unfortunate enough to be on a mission with Luke Skywalker or Leia Organa, do not let either of them cook if you can afford it._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> some swearing in this one, not too much though  
> all plant names are made up

The first thing every new recruit into the Alliance was told, after introductions of their Command and explanations of their future role, was this: _if you are ever unfortunate enough to be on a mission with Luke Skywalker or Leia Organa, do not let either of them cook if you can afford it._

“What? Why?” Thala, whose rookie cell was recruited in the time the Alliance was jumping bases from Yavin 4 to Hoth, was understandably confused at that. Leia Organa was one of the leaders of the rebellion, one of the last Alderaanians left after the destruction of the planet. And Luke Skywalker was a hero, the pilot who destroyed the Death Star. What could be wrong with them?

“You’ll get it if you see it,” she was simply told, the eyes of the other rebel haunted.

And months later, stuck on a quiet planet because the Millennium Falcon had a malfunction _“again, Han, I thought you’d fixed it at the base”_ , Thala understood.

Captain Solo and Chewbacca were on the Falcon, doing repairs, as Thala had seen them do since she arrived at the main Alliance base. That left Princess Organa and Thala herself, and Thala was sent off immediately to scout out their surroundings and place some sensors for the night, just in case there was danger on this planed.

When Thala returned from that task, she found Princess Organa making... mashed potatoes? Or at least that’s what she thought, but the stack of apples and – tomatoes?! – at the Princess’ side was... discouraging to say the least.

“I found some fruit while you were gone, decided to make something with it. Why waste rations when there is food available right here,” Princess Organa said to Thala when she approached.

The other woman had a squint in her eyes as she looked up at Thala, morphing back into part concentration, part bewilderment when the Princess returned her gaze to the food in front of her.

“Yes, that is very... wise,” Thala sat down opposite Leia and put some of the... meal in a bowl she was handed. She couldn’t make her CO mad, she _couldn’t_.

“It’s based on a dish from back home... I don’t know the recipe, but I have seen it prepared and it can’t be that difficult. Try it,” Leia instructed as she was piling up her own bowl.

Home. _Alderaan_. Shit, now Thala _really_ couldn’t refuse this, she’d hate herself if she tried. _Just grin and bear it, Ala._ She scooped some of the mash with a spoon and quickly, before she could lose composure and the courage, brought it into her mouth and tried to swallow it as soon as possible so that she wouldn’t have to taste or feel it longer than was absolutely necessary.

To her relief, it wasn’t... the worst, but it wasn’t tasty, not really, and the texture was abhorrent on the roof of her mouth and made Thala want to scrub it with a brush to get every bit out. She would finish it, because it was clearly important to the Princess and because wasting food wasn’t something she wanted to ever do, but...

“Next time, I shall make something for you, if you don’t mind,” Thala said, trying to be as diplomatic as possible. “Since you’ve shared something of your culture with me, it’s only appropriate that I shall some of mine.”

“Oh, I am going to help–“ Leia put her bowl down, already finished.

“No, no, please...” Thala was sweating, quickly thinking of an excuse. “Um... on my world, cooking is not a group task. So, don’t worry, I’ll do it myself. Just let me do it myself.”

It was worth it, if only to see Solo deflate and cringe away from the two bowls with the leftover meal she handed to him, one for him and one for Chewbacca. Thala hoped her glare was enough to convey whose fault she thought this was. And watching him squirm and uncomfortably try to compliment Princess Leia’s cooking skills afterwards was hilarious.

* * *

Thala didn’t get to go on a mission with Commander Skywalker until a few months after that; she was randomly stuffed into a group with him, Sabine Wren, and Solo, again (which Wren wouldn’t stop complaining about because she expected General Syndulla on this mission, but the Twi’lek pilot was unavailable). Thala thought that sending a Mandalorian and a Jedi ( _in training_ , Commander Skywalker would always remind everyone around him), as well as one of the best pilots, on a comparatively simple infiltration and recon mission was a bit overkill, but apparently, Wren’s old rebel cell had a Jedi who taught her to use a lightsaber, so she was now tutoring Luke whenever they both had the time.

Thala had been approached not once, not twice, but three times before going on this mission, by three different pilots, all warning her not to let Skywalker make their meals because, apparently, _“his cooking is like a trial run of hell”_. And after the fiasco with Princess Leia’s meal, Thala was inclined to believe them. This time, she would take over the cooking duty right away, leaving no chance for the Commander to even try.

But, of course, the universe hated Thala, which was why she went away for no more than 30 minutes while Skywalker and Wren were going over some lightsaber moves – form III they called it? Probably, Thala had no idea – and when she came back, Commander was already roasting something on a small fire and putting it on plates.

“Ah, Thala, you’re just in time for dinner!” Skywalker, uncannily, turned to face her before she even entered the clearing they were staying at for the moment. “Here, grab a plate.”

Thala took it with apprehension, but was surprised to see that the meal didn’t look too bad. She could identify chunks of meat and some vegetable she didn’t recognize, and prodding them with a fork revealed that they were surprisingly evenly cooked for an open fire.

“What is it?” she still asked, just to be safe.

“Oh, a bird Chewie shot out of a tree a few hours ago and some vegetable from around. Probably not poisonous, but we’ll have to wait and see,” Skywalker turned to her with a smile that was too broad for the words he was saying.

Thala’s face lost all color and she put the plate down, urgently. Skywalker had the gall to laugh, “Don’t worry, it was a duck and the vegetables are just some binma root and kava leaves. Perfectly safe to eat.”

Thala picked up the plate again and nodded, but didn’t get to eating just yet. She was saved for the moment by Sabine arriving. The Mandalorian grabbed her plate as well and sat down. Thala leaned forward in anticipation as she started eating, but...

“Oh, this is good,” Wren said, to Thala’s shock. “Maybe you should just cook and not bother with the lightsaber stuff. You’re much better at this.”

“Well,” Skywalker turned, his gaze steadily on the Mandalorian, “maybe after the war is over.”

Wren stiffened, a hard look in her eyes that she bore into Skywalker; he was, likewise, looking at her strongly, sharply. Thala realized there was a story, a conflict of ideologies there; but frankly, she didn’t want to know, it was above her rank, as a simple slicer, and she was tired and hungry.

So Thala took some meat and cooked binma onto her fork and popped it into her mouth, more confident now that she’d seen someone else eat this mean and not die but even praise it.

And immediately broke out into a cough.

There was a hand lightly slapping her between her shoulder blades and another hand was shoving a glass of water in her face as she was still _coughing_ and tears were streaming down her face.

It was _hot_. Her mouth was on fire and she was certain she would never be able to feel her tongue or taste anything, ever.

Thala’s coughing gradually subsided and she was able to finally take a few huge gulps from the glass of water that’d been forced into her hand by Luke.

“Skywalker,” she rasped, as soon as she could take a breath without feeling the need to cough her lungs out, “what the _fuck_ did you put in it?!”

To Luke’s benefit, he looked at least somewhat apologetic, but Thala wasn’t in the mood. “Just a bit of chalame,” he said, sheepish. “That bad?”

“Bad?!” she hissed, indignant. “I almost died! No, that’s it! You’re not cooking anything with me around, or at least not until you learn how to measure spices so they don’t kill everyone around. You may be my CO, Skywalker, but you either learn from me or stay out!”

Luke was already nodding, genuine concern and good mood mingling in those blue eyes of his. “Roger that, teacher. No touching spices until you give the okay.”

At least, once again, it was hilarious watching Han try to bite down the extremely spicy dish. And it was even more amusing watching him sidestep Wren and General Syndulla for weeks after that, since Thala told him that Sabine downed a whole plate of Luke’s cooking without so much as tearing up. Someone needed to put that opportunistic smuggler in place a bit, if neither the Princess, nor Commander Skywalker were willing to do that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> one of my favorite hc is that Luke is used to eating very spicy food, because he's from a desert planet and they have to use a lot of spices for better preservation. and he is a good cook but the stuff he makes is just too spicy for most people from other planets. Sabine is one of like ~5 people who can eat Luke's food normally because she's Mandalorian, and Leia is another because my hc is that she doesn't care /that/ much about food and anything that is filling and nutritious she will eat, including the food she herself makes that is barely edible to other people because Leia is not a good cook, though she tries.  
> also, let's imagine that all these characters were around at the same time and got to meet each other and interact and go on missions together and that it all makes sense, deal? this is semi-AU, I guess, since I don't think it'll be too big of a deal if Luke arrives to Yoda already semi-proficient in lightsaber combat.  
> thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed this, tell me what you think :)


	2. Alderaan, Mandalore, Coruscant, Yavin 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The rebels make patriotic anti-imperial music. It pisses Vader off.

The officers in the mess hall were playing music.

It wasn’t often that Darth Vader passed by the mess, but he was looking for Piett who had last been seen there, and so Vader had to, begrudgingly, come down to that part of the ship.

Where they were playing music.

And not just any music, as far as Vader could tell. _Rebel_ music.

Furious, Vader stormed into the mess, just catching the line “Alderaan, Mandalore, Coruscant, Yavin 4”, when whoever put the song on smartly turned it off. The entire mess was silenced, officers straightening in their places or freezing as they were, some with their utensils just centimeters away from their mouths. The entire room filled up with a strong sense of fear. _Good_ , Vader thought. _Keep it that way._

When Vader was alone, later, after his business with Piett was concluded, Vader looked up the song on holonet, out of sheer curiosity. And because he needed to keep up with what the rebels were doing. That was the reason.

The video was extremely easy to find, despite the Empire’s best attempts to get rid of it, as it had been copied and reuploaded many times and every time one upload got taken down, three more were added. It wouldn’t be stopped.

It had an impressive number of views, too, and comments. Vader gripped his datapad so hard it was surprising it didn't snap in his hands as he read one of them, saying “I can recognize the Naboo bagpipe when I hear it! Queen Amidala’s favorite! Outstanding.” 

And the video itself wasn’t much better. Even years later and under layers of makeup, he could recognize Sabé, Padmé’s handmaiden and friend. A traitor! And she was around Luke, their son. Bitterness gripped him at the unfairness of the situation.

But as he listened to the song more and more (and once you listened once, you couldn’t stop, it overtook your brain and refused to budge), the bagpipes really were Padmé’s favorite. And she probably would have loved the song, too.

Let it stay up. Vader could probably write an algorithm that would scrub this song off the net as soon as it was detected, but he wouldn't. Who knew what the rebels would come up with next? That was the reason.

In the subsequent rebel attacks, they always left one computing center functioning, playing the blasted song. When Chewbacca took over an AT-ST on the mood of Endor, the walker proudly broadcast the song, reminding all rebels in the area of what they'd lost and gained so they wouldn't give up. And when the Emperor was dead and the second Death Star was nothing but debris scattered in orbit, it was still playing, reminding all of what they'd fought for and what they protected by fighting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just something very quick and not really good because one day I woke up and thought "why is there barely any anti-imperial art in Star Wars?" there is Sabine, of course, but l'm from an Eastern European country that's seen practically every war in that part of Europe since like the 16th century and has struggled (and still is struggling) against imperialism. so it's really disappointing to me not to see literature, songs, movies, posters, everything, because we sure have that here now and had during wars. and then I thought, "what if [Bosanska Artiljerija](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXg9gIQT_l8) was in Star Wars" bc it's just so good and so here this is. "Alderaan, Mandalore, Coruscant, Yavin 4" is supposed to sound like the line "Sarajevo, Rogatica, Višegrad, Vlasenica"  
> also, in "Queen's Peril", Sabé was about to become a musician before she was scouted to be Padmé's handmaiden, and she hated music at the time, but I feel like this would still be fun for her. fun and treason, just as she'd like it, I think.  
> thank you for reading! let me know what you think :)


End file.
